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a. As rapidly as they are moving, they'll be here soon.
b. As hard as John hit Henry, Henry must be in a lot of pain right now.
Are the above sentences grammatically correct and meaningful?
I am confused.
Generally, when 'as' is used like this with adjectives, the meaning is usually 'although'.
c. As precise as this instrument is, it sometimes gives wrong readings.
I don't think that could be used in a 'positive' sense.
Many thanks
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Sentences (a) and (b) are grammatically correct and meaningful. So is sentence (c), though (c) would be better if "accurate" replaced "precise". In none of these sentences does "as" have the meaning or sense of "although". The phrase "as...as", used in all three sentences, is used for comparisons of various sorts.
"As" by itself (as in "Unaccustomed as I am to public speaking....") does have a meaning of "although" ("Although I am unaccustomed to public speaking....").
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I disagree. They don't work. 'as' does mean contradition.
At least in BrE.
As fast as they are going, I don't think they will arrive in time.
Ie although they are going very fast, it is not fast enough.
As hard as John hit Henry, he never went down.
ie although he was hit very hard, he was not defeated.
It is not a natural thing to say, though. They don't work with your meaning but they are not that natural for the opposite meaning either.
At the speed they are going, they won't arrive in time.
Even at that speed, they won't arrive in time.
The way John hit Henry, he must be in a lot of pain right now.
it means contradition
as much as = however much
As much as you hit me, you will never hurt me.
Or equality
As much as you hit me, I will hit you back just as much.
In speech you could possibly get away with it because of the different word stress and phrasing.
as fast as he's going, he might make it.
As fast as he's going, he still won't make it.
But like I said, I don't think it sounds natural either way, and the first definitely sounds wrong.
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